“Early to bed and early to rise.
Makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”
—Benjamin Franklin
By Zile Singh
In the above quote, health comes first than wealth and wisdom. Though a variety of definitions have been used for different purposes to define health, but according to the World Health Organization, health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.” In the WHO’s definition, the aspects of mental and social well-being are preceded by the physical aspect. To define various aspects of health I have to use a strong word. It is ‘DARE’. How do You Dare? It stands for Diet, Attitude, Recreation and Exercise. For a balanced health, daring steps need to be taken irrespective of age and gender. When we talk about Dare, man hesitates to take daring step, but life urges to go ahead despite our unwillingness. We all want to live a healthy life, but our nature tries to ignore the yearning. Let us talk about the physical aspect first. Daily diet and exercise play a key role to keep a person physically fit and healthy. Physical health can be promoted by engaging in healthful activities such as regular physical exercises, adequate diet, sleep and avoiding smoking, stress, and other harmful habits. Adequate provision of health care facilities by governments is one of the most desired aspectsof healthycitizens. In the absence of such facilities, people die in childhood, youthful age and in old age due to one disease or the other.
The Global status report on Physical Activity 2022, published by the World Health Organization measured the extent to which governments are implementing recommendations to increase physical activity across all ages and abilities. Data from 194 countries show that overall progress is slow and that countries need to accelerate the development and implementation of policies to increase levels of physical activity and thereby prevent diseases and reduce burden on already overburdened health care systems. According to the WHO’s Report, almost five hundred million people will develop heart diseases, obesity, diabetes or other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) attributable to physical inactivity between 2020 and 2030, costing US$27 billion annually, if governments do not take urgent action to encourage more physical activity among their population.
Physical and mental health are complementary to each other. Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we manage stress, relate to others, and make healthy choices.
Regular fitness exercises like morning walks, yoga, and meditation have proved to be great medicine for curing mental health. Besides this, it is imperative to have a good diet and enough sleep. A person needs 7 to 9 hours of sleep every night on average. When someone is tired yet still can’t sleep, it’s a symptom that their mental health is unstable. Overworking oneself can sometimes result in not just physical tiredness but also significant mental exhaustion. As a result, people get insomnia (the inability to fall asleep). Anxiety is another indicator. Childhood abuse, trauma, or neglect, social isolation, loneliness, experiencing discrimination, enduring acts of atrocities, stigma, including racism, caste, social disadvantage, poverty, or debt are among the reasons that cause mental health. Few useful steps for mental health are to make social contacts – preferably in person, appeal to your senses – a cheerful attitude, leisure and recreational activities, meditation, and contemplation, eating brain healthy food and find your purpose in life.
Let us see what different religious scriptures say about physical and mental health. According to Bhagavad Gita, moderation in diet, as well as moderation in thinking, recreation and actions is the secret to healthy living. Eating too much food or starving and sleeping too much or remaining awake all the time is not health friendly. Equanimity coupled with acceptance of reality is the core of a healthy life. This acceptance allows us to manage the various conflicting and negative emotions, thoughts, and information we are exposed to when illness is diagnosed.
In one of the verses in the Bible, “Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security.” Although we are aware that complete physical healing may not occur in this lifetime, we also know that God has a plan and a purpose for our lives. One of the best verses in Bible for mental health reads, “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” Instead of doing anything, one of the prayers says, “Lord Jesus, we ask you to give us all around peace in our mind, body, soul, and spirit. We want you to heal and remove everything that is causing stress, grief, and sorrow in our lives. Please guide our path through life and make our enemies be at peace with us.”
According to Buddhist thinking, when dealing with illness and health, the mind, emotions, and body must be dealt with in an integrated manner. Buddhism is emphatic on the inseparable connection between the mind and body – the complex interactions that take place between thoughts, body, and the outside world.The Buddhist understanding of good health is similar with its emphasis on the balanced interaction between the mind and body as well as between life and its environment. Illness tends to arise when this delicate equilibrium is upset.
Sikhism encourages individuals to live a good and healthy life – mind, body, and spirit. Sikhi promotes individuals to be strong in the face of adversity, but even for the strongest, there are times when we find challenges and even obstacles to our well-being. Sikhism suggests that we aspire to live in Chardi Kala, being positive even in the face of extreme hardship. Chardi Kala can translate to mean ‘ascending energy’ which includes a mental state of eternal bliss.
Islam values the importance of good mental health and emotional wellbeing. The Qur’an can be used as a guide to those suffering from emotional distress and aims to lead people to a meaningful quality of life. ‘There is no disease that Allah has created, except that He also has created its treatment’ (Hadith).
Zile Singh is a well respected Columnist, Writer and a Vipassana Meditater. He has a Post-Graduate Diploma in Human Rights. He can be reached at zsnirwal@yahoo.ca